Around 17.8 million residential properties in the first quarter were considered equity-rich, meaning that the combined estimated amount of loans secured by those properties was 50 percent or less of their estimated market value, according to ATTOM Data Solutions’ first-quarter 2021 U.S. Home Equity & Underwater Report.

That represents 31.9 percent, or about one in three, of the 55.8 million mortgaged homes in country, according to the report, up from 30.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020, 28.3 percent in the third quarter and 26.5 percent a year ago.

The report also shows that just 2.6 million, or one in 21, mortgaged homes in the first quarter were considered seriously underwater, with a combined estimated balance of loans secured by the property at least 25 percent more than the property’s estimated market value. That figure represented 4.7 percent of all U.S. properties with a mortgage, down from 5.4 percent in the prior quarter, 6 percent in the third quarter and 6.6 percent a year ago.

“It continues to be a great time to be a homeowner most everywhere in the country. The ongoing price spikes we’re seeing help to cut down the number of seriously underwater properties and boost the level of equity-rich properties,” ATTOM Data Solutions Chief Product Officer Todd Teta said in a release. “However, that may shift once the foreclosure moratorium is lifted, and that’s something we’re watching, partly because it could limit equity gains and draw people underwater. For now, though, the equity picture remains one of many signs that the long U.S. housing market boom keeps charging ahead.”

Among the 50 states, 41 showed an increase in the percentage of homes considered equity-rich from the fourth quarter to the first quarter, while 49 saw a decrease in the percentage that were seriously underwater.

Nine of the 10 states with the biggest gains in the share of equity-rich homes from the fourth quarter to the first quarter were in the West or Northeast. States where the portion of mortgaged homes considered equity-rich rose most were Idaho (up from 42.7 percent in the fourth quarter to 50.6 percent in the first quarter), Utah (up from 37.9 percent to 42.5 percent), Colorado (up from 36.5 percent to 40.6 percent), Vermont (up from 47.8 percent to 51.5 percent) and Washington (up from 41 percent to 44.5 percent).

States where the share of equity-rich homes decreased between quarters the most were West Virginia (down from 21.6 percent of mortgaged properties to 19.5 percent), Louisiana (down from 17.1 percent to 15.7 percent), Pennsylvania (down from 26.1 percent to 24.9 percent), Iowa (down from 22.1 percent to 20.9 percent) and Mississippi (down from 25.6 percent to 25.2 percent).

The states with the biggest declines in the percentage of mortgaged homes considered seriously underwater were Iowa (down from 11.3 percent to 8.7 percent), Mississippi (down from 11.4 percent to 9.1 percent), Louisiana (down from 14.9 percent to 13 percent), South Dakota (down from 8.2 percent to 6.3 percent) and Nebraska (down from 7.3 percent to 5.5 percent).

States where the percentage of seriously underwater homes rose, or dropped by the smallest amounts, from the fourth quarter to the first quarter were Pennsylvania (up from 7.1 percent to 7.3 percent), Oklahoma (down from 8.3 percent to 8.2 percent), Washington (down from 2.2 percent to 2.1 percent), Illinois (down from 10.6 percent to 10.4 percent) and Minnesota (down from 4.2 percent to 3.9 percent).

The states with the highest levels of equity-rich properties in the first quarter were by Vermont, (51.5 percent of mortgage properties were equity-rich), Idaho (50.6 percent), California (49 percent), Washington (44.5 percent) and Utah (42.5 percent). The states with the lowest percentage were Louisiana (15.7 percent), Illinois (16.8 percent), Oklahoma (18 percent), West Virginia (19.5 percent) and Alabama (20.3 percent).

The states with the highest shares of mortgages that were seriously underwater in the first quarter were Louisiana (13 percent seriously underwater), West Virginia (10.5 percent), Illinois (10.4 percent), Arkansas (9.2 percent) and Mississippi (9.1 percent). The smallest percentages were in Oregon (1.8 percent), California (1.9 percent), Arizona (2 percent), Washington (2.1 percent) and Utah (2.1 percent)